Electrodermal Arousal of Chronically Ill Psychiatric Patients Undergoing Intensive Behavioral Treatment

Abstract

Severely regressed female psychiatric patients were tested repeatedly while undergoing an intensive behavioral treatment program. The study focuses on interrelations between some of the physiological and overt behavioral measures taken during the course of therapy. In the initial testing, severity of illness, which was evaluated from the patient's behavior, was found to be negatively related to basal skin conductance level, and to spontaneous and specific GSR activity. The longitudinal data collected over the year of therapy indicated that the patients became more responsive to the demands of their physical and social environment by the year's end. I N THE PRESENT STUDY, severely regressed female patients undergoing an intensive behavior-modification program were tested to (1) assess the program independently, and (2) to investigate relationships between physiological activation and the psychological state of chronically ill psychiatric patients. This report focuses on the interrelations of some of the physiological and overt behavioral measurements taken over the course of the therapy.

Orienting Response Research in Schizophrenia: Where We Have Come and Where We Might Go

“…Furthermore, using a variety of rating scales, several other laboratories have also identified a subgroup of patients marked by both emotional withdrawal and conceptual disorganization, and noted them to be strikingly deficient across a wide range of functions. Using the Psychotic Reaction Profile, Fenz and Steffy (1968) reported electrodermal nonresponsiveness among chronic female psychiatric patients was associated with cognitive disorganization and emotional withdrawal. Franzen and Ingvar (1975 a , 1975 b ) found altered cerebral blood flow was most striking in patients displaying the greatest emotional withdrawal and cognitive disorganization, as rated by the Rockland-Pollin scale.…”

THE TOKEN ECONOMY: AN EVALUATIVE REVIEW1

“…In addition to changing social behavior, decreasing the frequency of aggressive behavior has been an important goal. Steffy and his associates (Fenz and Steffy, 1968;Steffy, unpublished;Steffy et al, 1969) described a program to deal with both aggressive and regressed female in-patients. As part of this program (Steffy, unpublished), individual contracts were made and negotiated with each patient to help bring her aggressive behavior under control.…”

Physiological concomitants of behavioral indexes in schizophrenia.

“…Venables and Wing (1962) came to similar conclusions using skin potential as their autonomic measure; they found that the more socially withdrawn the schizophrenic, the greater was his level of "arousal." Wing (1964) reported the opposite for reactivity on the GSR; similarly, Fenz and Steffy (1968) found severity of illness in a group of schizoprenic women to be negatively related to basal conductance and to spontaneous and specific GSR activity. Thus, level of arousal by itself does not seem to be a comprehensive term to describe a schizophrenic patient.…”